ROME – A novice teacher who allegedly used scissors to cut a chatty schoolboy's tongue in a Milan classroom is under criminal investigation, Italian news agencies said Thursday.

The 7-year-old boy, who has not been publicly identified, needed six stitches in his tongue, said Piero Porciani, a lawyer for the child's parents.

The 22-year-old teacher was being investigated for suspected intentional harm against the boy, the ANSA news agency reported. Milan Prosecutor Marco Ghezzi's office said it could not immediately release information about the probe.

Porciani told The Associated Press by telephone from Milan that the teacher has been suspended from the school while the incident is investigated.

"He's not eating, he's not sleeping, he doesn't want to go school. He cries a lot because of the pain," Porciani said.

The mother has said in TV interviews that her son is showing a fear of knives in the kitchen after his tongue was cut.

Italian news reports said the teacher, who was assisting the main teacher in the class, repeatedly asked the child to be quiet when her colleague left the classroom briefly on Feb. 20.

When the boy continued to chat and move about the classroom, the teacher allegedly told him to stick out his tongue. Porciani said the teacher, who was not identified by name, said she didn't mean to cut the child's tongue.